pic: 2006 HOTBOT

[WEHickok]

[cdm-description=photo]23319[/cdm-description]

[Arefin Bari]

As always The hot team came up with another HOT BOT.

I like those wheels... and the chassis.

Question and request, how does your shooter work and it would be nice to have a video of the hotbot.

[Greg Perkins]

Here's my guess,

The shooters wheels shoot the ball initially faster than the 12m/s... however due to gravity and whatnot that the intertial force of the ball coming out of the cannon keeps it against the chute. And as it slowly stats to lose momentum after breaching the top of the chute, it slows down to the maximum speed alotted by FIRST. This is the only way it works, that I can see anyway. I assume your just lobbing them from the ramp?

[DjAlamose]

The exit degree looks to be around 45-55 degrees. My guess is that they are a long shooter, probably from the other side of the field. I also see a turret in there. But the netting baffles me, does it close or opens up? Hmm quite interesting. This I same bot ill be inspecting closer at GLR.

[Kris Verdeyen]

The shooter is the same as their ball picker upper. They spin the wheels slower to pick up from the floor, which dumps balls into the vertical net, so they fall into the basket.

Perhaps?

[BoyWithCape195]

I think the netting goes up to act as some sort of backboard for balls being thrown in by the human player.

[Joel Glidden]

Walt said in another thread that they're not doing floor pickup.

[dachickindapit]

I know how it works, but I'll leave the details of the shooter mechanism to Jim or Pat.

I don't know if there's any video, but I know there will be after Great Lakes.

Greg, are you referring to lobbing from the ramp on the other side of the field?

We do not pick up from the floor, only receive from the human player.

[pakrat]

All of this is speculation until they tell us but:
Loader:
Genius hopper deisgn with a damping backboard that flips completely parallel to the ground for easy human shots. Also note the nicely machined part at the bottom of the hopper for feeding one ball only while agitating the other balls to avoid getting clogged.

Shooter:
Seems like some sort of wheel at the bottom that launches something up the ramp with an angle condusive to launching things from any up to 25 feet away fairly accurately. There will be plenty of spin on the ball too (some people speculated that spin will help keep the path of the ball straight) if that makes any sense. Also, a turret on that shooter to maximize scoring oppurtunities.

Drive: looks like a lot of chain, which i have noticed in many strong teams this year. Very red wheels, but i cant tell anything about it besides that from this piture on this monitor.

other notes:
The light sensor that is used to (i suspect) sense the speed of the wheel and change that speed depending on how close to the goal you are.

The presence of a camera close to the shooter to aid in aiming the shooter turret with some awesome code ill guess.

The surprising lack of ability to floor load and as far as i can tell, floor score.

IMHO, this will be a very interesting robot to watch, and its interesting to see HOT playing stong to one suit when im used to them interacting with every game element in almost every way possible. Still gonna be a great robot

[Greg Perkins]

I'll leave the details of the shooter mechanism to Jim or Pat, they'll be able to explain it better.

I don't know if there's any video, but I know there will be after Great Lakes.

Greg, are you referring to lobbing from the ramp on the other side of the field?

We do not pick up from the floor, only receive from the human player.
I meant lobbing them into your own goal from your ramp not across the field

[Pat McCarthy]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/pics/bin/114079564835.jpg
Ok, here comes the explanations.
Question and request, how does your shooter work and it would be nice to have a video of the hotbot.
The shooter has two wheels that launch the ball up the arch and out of the robot. The arch puts a nice backspin on the ball increasing it's distance a little bit.
Here's my guess,

The shooters wheels shoot the ball initially faster than the 12m/s... however due to gravity and whatnot that the intertial force of the ball coming out of the cannon keeps it against the chute. And as it slowly stats to lose momentum after breaching the top of the chute, it slows down to the maximum speed alotted by FIRST. This is the only way it works, that I can see anyway. I assume your just lobbing them from the ramp?
You are quite correct about the shooter's speed.
We can shoot from at least half court into the center goal. (we haven't measued the exit velocity yet, so that could change in either direction)
But the netting baffles me, does it close or opens up?
In the picture, the netting is almost all the way in the closed position. It opens forward to increase the target area for the human player and to increase hopper capacity.

[Alex Cormier]

Great job guys and as always a diffrent aproach on how to play the game. See ya at Champs.

[DjAlamose]

After looking at this picture for some time now I have come to a conclusion.

It just doesn't feel like a HOTBOT... :(

But that doesn't mean it won't rock, as a matter of fact i know it will (i have a sixth sense for good robots ;) )

[Pat McCarthy]

After looking at this picture for some time now I have come to a conclusion.

It just doesn't feel like a HOTBOT... :(

But that doesn't mean it won't rock, as a matter of fact i know it will (i have a sixth sense for good robots ;) )
Keep in mind that it's missing all of the cosmetic touches of the HOTBOT in this picture. (Flames and everything)
But due to the size and orientation restrictions we do feel that it's missing a bit of our signature look, but it will still 'Rock The Casbah' performance-wise. :D

[miketwalker]

I've noticed one thing with the shooter design that I would think could be an extremely major issue. By having that ball travelling on that arc which is a passive system for it's length of time, any impacts from other teams hitting the robot will greatly effect the accuracy of the shooter. Maybe I am wrong, but have you tested the way the balls will react in that scenario?

[pyro20911d]

I'M SWEATING

[Paul H]

That looks a lot like what I think the Killer Bees robot looks like....at least the hopper design, looks good. Do you have any way to herd balls to the human player? What if all the balls are on the field?

[Chris Sturrock]

wow. good job guys, I like this design. I can't wait to see it in action at Great Lakes!

[Chriszuma]

Yeah, I knew that HOT BOT was going to be a little less sweet than usual when I heard that lame rule against flop-bots. Kinda disappointing, but it looks solid nonetheless. 6 wheel drive, rock on!

[Rombus]

Hmmm good looking robot, but the shooter begs the question:
when does the ball truly leave a robot? If your shooting up at a rate higher of 12.5 m/s, Will it be still legal since its no longer making contact with the ball once its NOT at 12.5 m/s?

Now im sure 67 has already thought about this, but im just curious :D

[Heretic121]

its not a HOT BOT w/ out a FLOP BOT =( im gonna miss those flopping bots =( but looks amazing once again... GL

[Pat McCarthy]

Hmmm good looking robot, but the shooter begs the question:
when does the ball truly leave a robot? If your shooting up at a rate higher of 12.5 m/s, Will it be still legal since its no longer making contact with the ball once its NOT at 12.5 m/s?

Now im sure 67 has already thought about this, but im just curious :D

We have thought of this. The ball will be shot, out of the wheels, at slightly higher than 12m/s. However, gravity and the drag of the arc will slow it down to 12m/s by the time the ball leaves the arc, which is when it leaves the robot.

[Joe Johnson]

I will be happy to see this robot hitting 3 pointers.

I pitched the idea of low shooter wheels with a deflector to
3 teams... ...none of which thought there was much merit to the idea.

I thought is was simple & elegant.

Now let's see if it works at the Great Lakes Regional...

Speaking of the GLR (and forgive me for hi-jacking this thread), I can't wait to hear Vebrugge whipping up the GLR audience by showing his Regional Toughness Index:

...5 out of 24 Divisional Finalists & Winners...
...AND 4 out of 12 Regional Winners...
...AND 2 out of 3 Grand Champions...
...were at the GLR...

...I get a knot in my stomach just thinking about it...

...Let's get this season started....

Joe J.

[KTorak]

GLR will be awesome. I personally think its the toughest regional. The best of the best come here. 1023 is definitely looking into ranking high again this year. We have a really good autonomous mode, something we have been lacking in previous years, as well as a well built robot that is very capable of being a good scorer.

I say....LET THE GAME BEGIN!

As for the HOT Bot, it sure looks like some crazy engineering marvel you'd expect from 67. Despite the "anti flop bot rule" from FIRST, they have continued to amaze us with their designs. I wanna see how 1023 and 67 stack up against the competition.

[Pavan Dave]

I love the design and I like the fact that its pretty simple if you put it all together,(or at least after you read Mr. Verdeyen's post.)

I think it's interesting the way you use the wheel at the bottom as a multi-purpose wheel. :)

Good Luck guys
-Pavan

[Rombus]

We have thought of this. The ball will be shot, out of the wheels, at slightly higher than 12m/s. However, gravity and the drag of the arc will slow it down to 12m/s by the time the ball leaves the arc, which is when it leaves the robot.

Oh i get the concept alright, just wondering what FIRST Is going to say, I guess what im asking is what defines a muzzle so you can get muzzle velocity :D

[Chriszuma]

Oh i get the concept alright, just wondering what FIRST Is going to say, I guess what im asking is what defines a muzzle so you can get muzzle velocity :D
It's already been adressed.
http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=358&highlight=muzzle+velocity

[Dan Petrovic]

Yeah, I knew that HOT BOT was going to be a little less sweet than usual when I heard that lame rule against flop-bots. Kinda disappointing, but it looks solid nonetheless. 6 wheel drive, rock on!

Yeah, when I heard that rule I said to myself "Aww... poor HOT..."

[George A.]

Without the falling over and the flames in the picture, it doesn't feel like the HOTBOT.

I've always has this thing about desiging robots and then they wind up winning


2001: Beast's loader from the ground
2002: 25's silver scorpion
2003: Wildstang's Wedgebot Idea
2004: 190's Haning and goal protecting
2005: Hot bot's falling over, pitchfork and articulating arm.

I draw them out in design phase and they look good, but no one on my team goes for them...personally I don't think 3 World Championships, a Divionsal Championship, and a really cool bot is all that bad.

This year 67 is almost what I wound up proposing...so I think they'll do well (granted, they'd do well even if I hadn't designed my bot similar to theirs.)

[anna~marie]

:D Thanks guys!! I'm sure we will give it our best this year!